The War Of Shadow and Darkness
by Hailfire.CCS
Summary: Corrupted and broken, The Atlesian Military struggles to hold it's ground in protecting Vale and when the four kingdoms take to war, brothers killing brothers, it is up to the integrity of the Soldiers of Remnant to keep the human race from dousing it's lights of hope, engulfing itself into Eternal Darkness. [status]: Act II in progres. [OC WARNING] [NEW PLOT]
1. Prologue

**Prologue**

The famous, prestigious, and world renowned Beacon academy is an architectural masterpiece. Abstract arches and massive columns made of expensive stone. The academy was old but not worn, experienced but beautiful. And here is where the best fighters are made. It's hallways were somewhat less crowded today. The courtyards were however still bustling as usual. But however today was Saturday so most if not all of the students were taking advantage of the well deserved weekend break, paying many visits in the nearby sprawling city of Vale. But however even the weekends at local clubs and bookstores are not enough to make a student forget about their vast amounts of homework and intense combat exams. The exams that always seemed to end in a certain gladiator taking the highest score in the first years classes. Gaining admission to an academy such as this takes years of training and many of the students do not plan to waste their great opportunity. Some of the students here were even training since birth if their parents happened to be Huntsmen themselves. All put in one word, A 'Mystery', not much is truly known about the huntsmen or their origins. Rumors and fairy stories are told however of the Huntsmen and the secrets that they share only among themselves. Some people even claim that a huntsmen can absorb a grims essence, using it for themselves. Most of it is superstitious clutter but it is a fact that many people look to the huntsmen with less than approving thoughts. Even the academy at which they train that was built upon the top of a cliff is rumored to be an ancient place of ancient practices, these including sacrifice and a particular story of bonding the soul of a man's to the empty soulless body of a grim's.

But besides the local rumor the huntsmen are also said to be the protectors of the world and it is without doubt that they do an excellent job at it too. Vale has stood strong against the forces of grim for longer than recorded history. The beacon academy was the center of all of it. The current professor, known as Ozpin is quite selective in his production of huntsmen. But the academy was a marvel without doubt. Looking over the academy stood a massive clock tower like office. Inside the geared tower two men argued, one sitting in the headmasters chair while the stiff military jacketed man with an easy smile and built jaw face stood on the other side of the massive gear and glass built desk. The men considered each other to be old friends but they spoke to each other in arguable tones.

"you have to at least consider the option."the general said waving his hand assertively.

The forest green scarfed Headmaster spoke like you would to a child. "as I've said before general, I don't believe allowing the military to influence my academy and teach my students is the best option right now."

"we cant afford any more...accidents. teaching our forces how to fight effectively together on the field..." The once passive and controlled headmaster spoke up aggressively, cutting the general off.

"The Huntsmen are not a power to be abused like your mindless armies!" He said nearly bolting up from his chair and nearly spilling his signature mug over on the desk. He looked the general in the eye. "any huntsman is better than fifty of your best soldiers." Another tense moment passed until the general creped a smile onto his face.

"then I think you'll be quite interested in a particular officer of mine," he paused. The headmaster looked at him skeptically and lowered himself back into his chair not realizing he had stood up. The general continued, "you do remember the fuss the public made over a fanus's enlistment The Atlesian military a few months ago?" The headmaster nodded his head. "well that same soldier happened to be one of the best military minds I had ever known. That same soldier, with my help was the very first fanus officer enlisted into the service."

"hmm..Why not send him to your Academy?" the headmaster asked skeptically, wondering what the general was getting at. Ironwood continued, ignoring his question.

"you can assume the council responded to this, always getting into business that they shouldn't be meddling with. despite my efforts to keep his fanus identity hidden, the news was leaked to the public. There was no way to keep him safe and to calm the riot the council immediately ordered him to be discharged from service. He was a good, no an excellent officer, I admired him actually." this caused Ozpin to raise an eyebrow. "Eventually the death threats came in. A few attempts were actually made on the base he was stationed at. Obviously it was White Fang. But by then I had no choice. I honorably discharged him with as much credit as I could." The general then took a seat in front of the desk.

"Yes, but what use could I make of a hated military officer?"Ozpin looked at Ironwood expectantly. The general spoke self assuredly.

"well I think you'll find him to be not just any officer. Listen to me when I say this boy is a prodigy. Damn the council that boy could have been one of the best I've ever had. When he trained to become an officer at North Blade I looked over his combat reports and he didn't even compare to his peers."Ozpin sighed with regret.

"General, I have high admiration for great minds but I still don't believe a graduate from your institute teaching at my academy will benefit **my** students as huntsmen."

"Oz, I owe this boy a debt and he is not safe where he is."

"do you now?" Ozpin chuckled to himself. "this should be an amusing story for the future I'm sure, but I wish to meet him first."

" And you shall. I believe that one way or another we need to find a solution to having huntsmen and military in combat together without risking casualties. your huntsmen need to know how to fight with a larger organized force" the general paused, "or we risk more...accidents" silence filled the room. Ozpin stirring his coffee in thought. After a minute of silence the headmaster spoke.

"I'll consider your offer general, I'll need to look into this officer of yours before accepting him into beacon" the general looked confused.

"I'm sending him to teach not to study Ozpin." the general stated bluntly

"I'm well aware of that general but for him to teach huntsmen he must first become a huntsman."Ozpin said downing more coffee.

"I believe he is already nine-teen, would that be a problem?"

"well if he's as good as you say he is, then the advanced classes shouldn't be a problem for him, what is his name?" the headmaster said with a smirk. The general pulled out a tablet from under neath his arm and read.

"Onyx Nightfall".

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><p><strong>AS THIS IS THE INTRODUCTION TO MY NEW OC BASED SHORT NOVEL IT DOES NOT EXPLAIN BUT SETUP DETAIL FOR THE STORY, A HOOK OF SORTS IF YOU WILL. KEEP READING AND THE STORY BECOMES MORE INTERESTING AS IT GOES ALONG. SUPPORT IS ALWAYS WELCOMED!<strong>


	2. Into Darkness

Chapter.1 **Into Darkness**

His unit was getting prepared. Both having been through this procedure many times. but to Onyx, this mission struck a different chord in him. Unlike his unit members he was different, discriminated against. But despite his disadvantage he was assigned the commanding officer over this operation by general Ironwood himself. Being the leader of his men he had to remain strong despite what his natural instincts were telling him. Of course he knew why he was neutralizing the targets and that they were deserving of death being terrorists to all of civilized Remnant. He ignored the thought of killing another fanus and reached a hand up to his neck, feeling the smooth overlapping obsidian colored scales that ran down onto his chest. This small difference among us caused so many people to die. Onyx thought silently to himself.

The airship rumbled and shook, causing Onyx to loose his footing, falling onto a nearby bench in the busy load-out room

"Damn these pilots, probably ran right into a goddamn nevermore." A muscular soldier said under his breath Filling a dust magazine with dangerous ammunition's. Onyx heard the comment.

"shut your mouth Silt and ready your gear," Onyx looked at the data-pad on his wrist that doubled as a watch. "we drop in twenty minutes, get moving." he called out to the room of Altesian marines followed by a series of' 'yes sir's'. Having been on over two years worth of leading high risk missions Onyx was quite familiar with all the attitudes before entering a combat zone. Overlooking the sixty well trained marines all preparing their various assortment of dust rifles and silenced sidearms Onyx began to prepare his own equipment. The Airship shook again, harder this time, causing the lights to flicker and sending dust ammunition all over the airship loading bay.

"what the hell," a marine exclaimed followed by many other confused remarks. Most of the soldiers looking to Onyx for an explanation or orders.

"if you want a weapon when you get down there." He paused, the ship rumbling slightly again. "then I suggest you get back to it then." Onyx managed some crowd control then gave a tap to the electronic piece in his ear and ordered. "status report." After a few seconds a voice responded

"just some unscheduled weather conditions sir, the sectors past forever fall can be feisty at night, but it's nothing we cant fly thought."

"stay on course, I want a smooth drop-in."

"hear you loud and clear sir." the pilot answered. This particular military airship was assigned to this mission for its enhanced stealth and VTOL capabilities. It was honorably named 'Shadowed Fear' due to the completely black exterior for nocturnal operations, such as this one. Onyx satisfied with the pilot's response, he walked over to one of the many rows of lockers that lines the inside of the loading bay. Opening his locker, stripping off his officers uniform and replacing it with a sealed tight-fit black prototype dust resistant under layer. Then attaching the layers of black armor plates into place on the arms, chest, shoulder, knees, and legs. The armor highly resembled the standard marine combat uniform but it had additional armor plates that were a bit more maneuverable making it less bulky and it was solid black. He placed the helmet over his head equipped with a small 3in antenna sticking up out of the side. The helmet locked on into the neck latch with the suit completely sealing him and covering his face with a black visor. Inside the helmet a digital display came to life on his visor displaying various things. He then reached for a six foot black hard case at the foot of his armory locker. He placed the case on a nearby steel loading table. He unlatched the the case and opened it, revealing a long five foot purple and black schemed rifle, three fist sized boxes and a sidearm with a barrel attachment increasing it's length.

He retrieved the five foot rifle and looked over it having the feeling of seeing a familiar friend. He placed 'Tenebris Contineo' onto the steel table and extracted one of the squares from the foam molding of the hard case. The dust battery gave an intense glow as Onyx inserted and locked it into the ammo slot under the stock. Onyx then locked the other two purple radiant dust batteries onto his belt and pulled the dust handgun from the foam molding as well. The side arm was equipped with a six inch suppressor one of which all the marines were equipped with. The majority of the mission going to be done in silence. Onyx made sure the suppressor was screwed tight onto the barrel of the handgun then placed it into the holster attached to his right thigh. The holster strapped to the large pair of black cargo pants that he wore.

Onyx then realized he was forgetting something. He walked back over to his locker and pulled out a object wrapped in a piece of cloth. extracting the curved six inch deadly bladed metal piece. The knife fashioned a solid black handle with four finger holes and a fifth ring loop. A glowing red line of infused dust ran along the edge of the blade and handle. The karambit cut the air as He gave a few practice swings. He sheathed 'Silentium Sed Mactablis' into a curved holster above his left breast, knowing he would be cleaning blood off of it soon. After having tied the navy blue laces on his pair of steel toed, He was ready. He took an observation of the loading bay seeing that most of the marines were now in similar helmeted black armored suits concealing their identities and weapons fully loaded. He quickly grabbed Twilight's Reach off the table and attached it to his back. looking over his men again and realizing the loading bay had become very quiet, nothing but the sound of the airship engine's steady hum. Onyx knew the men were mentally preparing themselves for what was next, himself being the leader, he felt obligated to give some sort of encouragement or pep talk but before he could, the pilots voice filled the air through the ship's intercom.

"two minutes to drop, I repeat, two minutes to drop, we are entering hostile territory. Good luck boys." The intercom turned off with a crack. Then the hum of the engines almost faded completely as the ship lowered the power to the thrusters, as to conceal the white flare given off by them. All of the exterior lights turned off on the 'Shadowed Fear' making the massive airship nearly impossible to see in the dark of night. Not that any enemy would see the massive black airship 40,000 feet in the air. But they took these precautions and risked nothing. Onyx then waved his marines into position behind the massive steel ramp at the back of the ship. The soldiers lining up in their squads of five. The men having practiced this procedure many times knew the importance of timing everything exactly. There were now twelve columns of five black suited marines waiting their cue. Then the lights to the loading bay shut off, putting the room into complete darkness.

"activate night vision." Onyx spoke with a finger to his helmet activating his own green hazed vision in the dark. giving his a clear view of the lined row of men in front of him also giving a tap to their own helmets. Of course Onyx didn't need the night vision overlay because being a fanus he has a natural ability to see in the dark. The only problem was it took a minute or two for his eyes to adjust to the dark environment. Using the overlay was faster and more efficient. Moments passed then the forward momentum of the airship came to a stop. The tension rose in the air as the silence grew in the loading bay full of anxious marines not sure if they would return to see the light of the next day. But that was the life they chose and now was not the time to become unfocused. Suddenly a loudly audible hiss could be heard as the massive ramp was beginning to lower, a gust of wind pushing on them as the air pressure equalized in the loading bay. The ramp finished lowering ending into a void of pitch below. The night was dark without stars as a layer of pitch clouds concealed the nightly features

Normally a green light would indicate the specified time to jump but because they wanted nothing to give away their presence, Onyx called the drops himself.

"Vanguard begin drop." He said into his helmet. The first five marines at the front, in unison walked up to the end of the ramp and with a dive were absorbed into the darkness. Automatically each squad one after the other dived out of the 'Shadowed Fear' leaving nothing but 40,000 feet of air between them and Remnant. It took less than forty seconds for the fifty-five soldiers to dive out of the cargo bay, he and his personal squad of four men being the only ones left standing in the open hatch-way. He looked at the four suited figures next to him and gave a friendly punch to the shoulder of the closest one. Then with a running start Onyx dived into darkness.

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><p><strong>SO FIRST IMPRESSION OF ONYX. HE IS MY MAIN OC WHO I WISH TO INTRODUCE TO THE RWBY UNIVERSE. I AM TRYING TO LARGELY EXPAND THE DETAILS OF HOW THE MILITARY WORKS IN REMNANT. SO PLEASE EXCUSE ANY MECHANICS OF MY OWN THAT ADD TO FILL IN THE GAPS NOT PROVIDED BY THE SHOW YET. NO ACTION IN THIS CHAPTER BUT THE STAGE IS BEING SET. PLEASE SHARE AND FAVORITE. <strong>


	3. Predator & Prey

Chapter.2 **Predator And Prey**

Falling, arms and legs extended outwards Onyx was plummeting towards Remnant at increasing speeds. After twenty seconds of free-falling his terminal velocity was reached traveling at 140mph. The wind he was cutting through and the rapid change in pressure was protected against by the sealed suit and helmet. He was paying close attention to the digital altitude reading in his visor rapidly decrease as the dark land below him became closer and closer. Three minutes into the fall his Altitude read 2,500. Reaching his right arm and curling his hand into a fist he hit the pressure switch on his shoulder, releasing the black aerodynamic gliding chute. Having trained for this Onyx was prepared when the massive tug hit his back, the chute fully deployed and slowing his decent. Using the guiding handles to his left and right to maneuver his way as close to the landing zone as possible. A small opening in the sea of blood red trees next to a large body of water. The landing site was extremely hard to see in the green hazed vision but he managed. When Onyx was about sixty feet from the ground, now traveling at a landing speed but was coming in a little fast. He pulled his arms in and bent his knees preparing for the landing. Executing a forward roll when he hit the ground as to put his momentum forward instead of into his legs.

The ground was soft ,dirt and mud mixed with wet red grass, signs of recent rainfall evident. He knelled on the ground for a few seconds, catching his breath through his helmet slits recovering from the tough landing when each of his arms were grabbed by two pairs of strong hands and lifted up onto his feet. A familiar black visor staring at him. The soldier was uniformed in full black and navy blue combat wear, a similarly colored rifle in his arms.

"you alright sir?," The black suited figure asked into the radio with a gloved finger at the side of his helmet. Onyx looked over himself quickly and found that his right leg was definitely bruised by the fast landing but no real damage had been done.

"fine" He said more to himself than to the soldier. Onyx placed a finger to the side of his helmet enabling him to communicate and spoke again, "Vanguard, set the rendezvous beacon here,we have ten minutes till we move out, get ready or get left behind" The soldier then walked off silently, gathering the rest of the airborne soldiers. Onyx took out his curved knife and cut the chute cables, straps and the small air tank from his back, dropping ten pounds onto the ground. He took a moment to check over all of his gear. Seeing all of his equipment accounted for he took in the surrounding environment through the green haze of the night vision. he could see the forest of blood red trees in every direction and the black glassy lake on one side of him and high mountains in the far distance, knowing Vale was safe on the other side of them. They were way beyond the Forever fall in the unknown wilderness far north of Vale in the infinite forest of Red trees. The thick layers of the trees adding to the darkness of the forest. About a mile west of them there were two hills sticking out of the uneven forested terrain, one higher that the other. The hills were about half a mile apart from themselves, both hills providing great views of the surrounding land. The taller one appeared to have a light or multiple lights emitting from it. That was their target, a large White Fang training base. Onyx was processing through the next parts of his plan in his head when a voice sounded in his helmet.

"all squads accounted for, ready to move out sir." A soldier reported. Onyx put a finger to the side of his helmet again.

"'Shadowed Fear' , this is Alpha Vanguard." He waited for an answer

"we hear you Alpha Vanguard, go ahead." The pilot's voice responded. Onyx looked at his wrist pad, taking in the info then spoke.

"Drop complete, stay hidden and thanks for the ride. Remain on standby we'll need you again. Vanguard out." Onyx switched channels. "Vanguard, move to phase 2, stay vigilant, beowolves are everywhere in this place.." The sixty hidden black figures divided into their groups of five and under the darkness of the night began silently moving through the thick forest towards the closer and smaller hill of the two. There were a few loose beowolves that pestered their flanks but were easily taken care of. As Onyx walked through the forest he noticed the air here had something different about it. Not anything very noticeable but if you felt for it you would notice the unusual thickness in the air adding to the eerie feeling that was growing in all of them. Surrounded by blood red trees in every direction and A grim's red eyes waiting around every corner, the land beyond the Forever Fall was a frightening place to be at night. After twenty minutes of silent marching Vanguard reached the base of the smaller hill. Onyx gave orders

"team one and two take up the hill silently, we don't know who or what could be up there. Camilia your squad will follow behind us. The rest of you secure the base of the hill and wait further orders, Keep it quiet." Extracting his silenced handgun from its holster he began silently making his way up the forested hill. The sloping side was littered with rocks and dark red shrubbery, making the ascent somewhat tricky. When he reached the point where the hill started to level out he began to hear voices. Himself and the soldiers at his side immediately took to the dirt, weapons ready and safeties off. Onyx waved the five figures to his left to move up. Himself following up behind them, he crawled to the end of the tree line kneeling against a large rock concealing him from the opening of trees on the top center of the hill. A small pot rested over a campfire next to a set of mud stained tents. There were three figures inside the small camp, one tending to the small cook pot stirring the contents inside, The other two were sitting on a fallen log bickering over something with rough voices. Onyx took advantage of their stealth approach and waited a minute to discretely study the three in the small campsite.

"why you sly little piece of sh-" the larger figure sitting on the log was cut off by the smaller figure sitting next to him.

"oh..was that yours?" she said innocently with a small playful chuckle then continued, "you already eat every goddamn thing you can."the slender cat like feminine figure threw something at the larger masculine figure sitting next to her.

"that talk is gonna get you killed one day." he responded coldly.

"oh please, like you could even ch-..." suddenly the larger figure made a move at the woman sitting next to him. A short tussle of grunts, angry slurs and tangled limbs, some fists landing their hit. The two wrestled in the wet mud until the third figure fought the two away from each other.

"I coulda' taken him." she said to the third figure sitting her down back on the log forcefully. She turned to the larger figure getting back up from the wet ground. "you are one damn stupid Ox, ya know that? Lucky for you old springy boy here has a soft spot for you. Or else I woulda' wasted you."

"oh yea, how about A round two then kitty." The larger figure said making an approach at her. Then other fanus stepped in between them arms pressing against each of their chests separating them.

"both of you need to sit down and eat some damn food, you'll feel better and I wont have to listen to you two bitch for a while. It's not my fault that we were put on the forward lookout shift tonight." He said with authority in his voice. The two brawlers locked icy glares with each other then turned to sit at either sides of the camp.

Onyx was now leaning behind A tree outer most to the camp then decided not to waste any more time. From his position he could easily make out the bone carved grim masks on all three figures identifying them as members of the White Fang. Onyx looked to the other Marines also hidden in the shadow behind their own trees. Onyx waved a few discreet hand signals to his allies then looked back to the three White Fang members. Moving silently with all three figures back's turned to them the marines left the tree line and with silenced weapons drawn, they moved in on the targets. The first marine went for the closest figure sneaking in closer behind her with knife in hand. He was about to grab her by the neck when the fanus turned her head only to have it surprisingly slammed into the ground, knife at her neck. The fanus sitting next to her, the bigger one, reacted quickly reaching for his dust rifle but not quickly enough as he was grabbed by the neck, gagged and zip tied with military efficiency. The third fanus being on the other side of the campfire had more time to react, withdrawing his dust handgun from his tattered pants and lifting it up to shoot one of the soldiers. butanother marine ready for him and shot a silenced round through the fauns's trigger hand, a piece of flesh flying from it and then followed with two more dust rounds into each of the his kneecaps. The fanus collapsed limbless to the ground, dropping his weapon screaming out in agony. The fanus however was still putting up a fight and reached his other arm for his fallen handgun, grabbing it but not being able to lift it as another silenced round was placed through him again, this time though his head.

Onyx stayed just outside the treeline watching the whole thing play out before his eyes in a matter of seconds. The marine's quickly put out the campfire taking away the yellow illuminating of the surrounding red trees.

"area secure." A voice said over the radio. One of the marines put out the small camp fire, putting out the illumination of the nearby trees returning everything to darkness. Onyx was impressed with his men and ordered the two gagged zip-tied fanus to be placed in front of him. he looked over both of them, seeing their state of tattered clothing and dirtied grim masks. Gesturing to the two soldiers standing over the prisoners Onyx spoke.

"remove their masks." The two marines ripped the grim masks off of the White Fang member's face revealing two pairs of cold hard illuminating fanus eyes. Onyx then twisted off his helmet, allowing his long black hair to fall over his left eye navy blue, snake like eye. The two tied fanus examined their captor. Venomously cold eyes that reflected the cold night, black armored uniform, long bladed rifle on his back, long edge cut hair and silenced handgun withdrawn. They were intimidated immensely. he took in his prisoners features as well. The one to the left, the bigger, masculine heavily muscled ox fanus with brown eyes. The fanus next to him had bright green eyes and a feminine body, a cat fanus of some sort. He popped out checked the dust cartridge in his handgun then slid it back into place, re cocking the gun in front of them. He was trying to scare them. The captured fanus showed no response on their cold scarred faces and remained silent as they stared back at him coldly. Then Onyx asked a question to both of the fanus

"which one of you wants to live?" he stated bluntly. The two fanus shot a glance to each other then continued to stare back at him in silence. Onyx looked back and forth between them then decided they weren't going to crack without some help. He placed the end of his pistol to the Ox's head and waited for a response. Not getting one Onyx lowered his gun. The Ox fanus suddenly spat through his gag landing saliva onto Onyx's boot. He stared down at his boot, A long moment of suspenseful silence followed. Then without warning he whipped up his pistol and fired a silenced round into the Ox's skull. The fanus went limp, a puppet with it's strings cut. The cat fanus's eyes widened, watching her partner die next to her. She returned A furious stare back at Onyx. "how about you?" he asked coldly, placing the end of the barrel to her head. He waited a second then the fanus released a muffling through her gag. He lowered the gun then ripped the gag from her mouth. She coughed then spoke harshly.

"Human scum."she spat, then lowered her head in defeat, knowing her fate. Onyx's expression went almost sad for a second but quickly returned back to his passive mask, the one he had learned well. He knew this mission would have no prisoners so with a hair of regret he pulled the trigger again, making three souls lost on this hill tonight. His feelings were conflicted when he killed the fanus but it was justified and he still had a job to do. As he walked away from the bodies he re holstered his handgun and reached up, feeling the bumps the scales made through his suit and he sighed. Camilia's voice filled his helmet.

"perimeter secure, my men are ready Onyx.". He put a finger to his helmet as he walked over to the edge of the hill overlooking the valley between the two hills.

"Good, begin phase 3. Camilia what do you see?" He said to the familiar friend he'd known before his early days at boot camp. The sniper adjusted her scope, proned on the mud at the edge of the hill with her unique six foot high velocity rifle trained at the other hill.

"It's one hell of a fortress," she adjusted her powerful optic again, "and I count six-teen guard towers lined in with the wall that surrounds the entire camp."

"how many guards?" Onyx asked. The sniper adjusted her scope again then put a finger to her helmet.

"one in each tower, uh... a few patrolling the walls...hmm... I'd say about twenty guards in total just on the walls. I cant see inside."

"good job Camilia, keep scoping out the camp for anything else, I want you and your snipers to stay here, the rest of us are moving on." Onyx then turned to descend the hill while next to him a black suited Camilia was waving orders at her four men, setting up bi-pods and assembling multiple long silenced rifles. Onyx reached the bottom of the hill, his personal squad tailing him closely. He waved the rest of the unit to move up through the forest starting the quarter mile march to the opposing hill where the unwary enemy sat.

The night was cold and the gusts of wind sent shivers up Onyx's spine despite the warmth of the black combat wear. The wind shook the crimson red trees adding to the unnerving feel the forest of red created. Onyx and his fifty-five men continued their way through the dark forest, staying alert for any White Fang resource gatherers and more importantly, the teeming packs of beowolves that roam deep within the endless forests of the northern territory beyond the Forever Fall. After twenty minutes of cautious marching and course readjustments under the pitch sky, Vanguard was almost to the base of the larger hill. Onyx needed a plan so he called up his options.

"Camilia, you there?," He waited a second for a response.

"Ya Onyx I'm here, just scoping around." Camilia answered with a chuckle. Onyx shook his head at the bad pun and put more words into the radio.

"How many guards do you think you-..."he paused, "No, how many guards do you **know** you and your men can take out out before anyone notices." Onyx waited for an answer as the ranger thought about it.

"ten for sure if we're taking them all out at once, but going on guesses I would say around twenty."She informed. Onyx processed this information in his head, developing a plan. He spoke into his helmet again.

"Silt, report in." waiting for another long time familiar voice to answer.

"Here Onyx, and ready to kick some ass." The familiar gruff voice said with enthusiasm.

"stay focused, do your men have the dust charges."

"well, we're ready to blow shit up if that's what you mean," he chuckled, "but yes we do sir, charges operational."

"good, keep them that way." He said then continued to speak

"Vanguard, move up to the base of the hill, eyes peeled for any grim or traps these assholes could have set."Onyx said then as if on cue a worried voice filled the radio.

"Contact, Grim six a' clock. Looks like beowolves, three minors... a-a-and one massive son of a bitch major."

"How far." Onyx asked hurriedly.

"a-a-about thirty meters, at the base of the hill. Shit they've seen us, here they come!" the marines voice said alerted. Onyx pulled Twilight's Reach off of his back and switched it to the four bladed black and purple dual sided halberd, an elaborate sequence of mechanical shifting. a soft hum emitted from the blades as Onyx ran to the front of the group and saw the three sets of red eyes coming this way followed by another set of eyes much higher off the ground, also charging this way. He gave orders as he took off running right at the pack of beowolves.

"take them out spread out and crossfire, aim for their temple. The major is mine."

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><p><strong>A LITTLE DARK HUH? I'M JUST GOING TO TELL YOU RIGHT NOW THAT THE STORY OF ONYX IS NOT "RAINBOWS AND BUTTERFLY'S" SO IN SOME PARTS IT'S GOING TO GET A LITTLE DARK. IN THE FUTURE THERE IS POSSIBILITY OF GRAPHIC SCENES SO THE RATING MIGHT JUMP A LEVEL. BUT YAY MORE CHARACTERS AND DETAIL ON THE STORY. JUST A HEADS UP THOUGH, IT IS A LITTLE BIT OF A WAIT TILL THE WHOLE GRASP OF THE STORY IS TOLD. FOR RIGHT NOW IT'S MEETING ONYX. STORY UPDATES WILL BE ANYWHERE FROM A FEW DAYS (5-9) TO A RARE BUT A MONTH BREAK. THIS WILL ONLY HAPPEN WHEN I HAVE A MAJOR PLOT CHANGE AND NEED TO WRITE THINGS OUT AGAIN. SHARE AND FAVORITE, SUPPORT ALWAYS WELCOMED!<strong>


	4. Encounter & Approach

Chapter .3 **Encounter and approach**

Onyx activated his aura, a faint deep purple lining encasing him as he charged the pack of beowolves. Dashing around trees and vaulting a rock that blended with the red forest floor. Once the first minor was in range of the marine's weapons it was shot down, a series of stutters as it tumbled to the ground, silent dust ammunition entering it's body. The next minor was also shot down, a clean shot to the head from an unknown direction. It tumbled from its speed upon losing control of it's limbs. The next minor was barely meters away from him still charging at full speed towards him. Onyx challenging the grim to a lethal gave of chicken. Right before the imminent collision Onyx jumped, pressing a foot off the minors head sending it tumbling to the ground while He ascended upwards matching height with the twenty foot major who stopped it's charge as Onyx brought down Twilight's Reach in a hammer slam, slicing from the major's bone faced snout down to its groin, successfully splitting the front of the beowolf In half. The black grim monster let out a small whine as it's organs spilled out from its body and tumbled lifeless to the ground. It's red eyes fading and body beginning to turn over to a black evaporating fog.

Onyx turned back to look on his men,only to see the minor's completely taken care of and one marine finishing a surviving injured beowolf by placing a silenced round into it's head point blank. Nodding encouragingly to his men and waving them forward they continued to the base of the large hill. The ground became increasingly angled, sloping as they approached the hill. The top wasn't visible through the thick treeline that continued up the hill and the smell of waste was faint but definitely there. Evidence that the White Fang had been here for quite awhile. Onyx gave orders through his helmet.

"Hold positions here, stay alert, squad one follow up my flank and scout the camp." He withdrew his silenced handgun going into a crouching position as he and the five other silent figures continued up the inclined red hill. The ground had many paths run into it, the grass patted down by much travel over it. Using the trees to hide their ascent they reached the end of the tree line where the ground began to level out. In front of them was twenty yards of open treeless red grassed mud until it met a fourteen foot wall consistent of wooden pillars carved from trees placed tightly side by side in the ground to create a four foot thick wooden wall with a makeshift covered watchtower that had a four walled platform barely peeking out over the spiked pillars to provide a good view of the land. The six-teen watchtowers placed every sixty meters or so along the wall were each manned by a visible armed guard. A large twenty meter thick closed wooden gate was the only apparent entrance. Onyx could see the poor work put into the wall, seeing that pieces of the wall having had to be rebuilt repeatedly due to rot and corrosion. Onyx had seen enough, he returned to the bottom of the hill with a plan in mind.

"Regroup on me for instructions." For the next ten minutes Onyx was distributing instructions to the squads and Camilia's marksmen. Having everything planned out, the fifty-five men divided out into eleven squads, eight of the squads heading to their own assigned watchtower. The remaining three squads were divided out into Silt's squad making his team twenty men strong. Onyx's command group remained at the base of the hill with Silt's larger squad while the eight squads descended onto their towers, waiting at the end of the treeline, looking at their assigned tower twenty yards ahead of them. Onyx waited for all the squads to get into position then called the first order.

"squad one, go" at Onyx's voice the group of five soldiers at the western most tower waited for the guard to look away then sprinted silently one at a time from the tree line to the wall, undetected all five of them were hugging the lower part of the wall, hiding in the shadow of the structure awaiting their next order. This process repeated for the next seven squads. There were a few close calls but eventually all eight squads were waiting under all of the watchtowers this side of the camp.

"alright, first part down."Onyx said encouragingly. "Cami, wait for my go, I want clean head shots if you can manage them."

"i hear ya, no other proper way to kill a man." The ranger said adjusting and training her scope onto the first watchtower a quarter mile away.

"alright, begin ascent." Then the eight squads each formed a human ladder lifting the highest man so his head was inches below the floor of the watchtowers. Onyx waited for the squads to get ready as the soldiers at the top of the ladders each withdrew a knife into their hand waiting the go.

"squad one in position." A soldier called in at the first watchtower

"squad two in position"

"squad three in position" eventually all of the squads called in ready so Onyx gave the call.

"Execute."

"alright, lets pop some heads." a pause, "tower one, NOW." Camilia said into the radio pulling the trigger. The soldier that was top of the human ladder under tower one immediately jumped up onto the platform of the tower room locking eyes with an armed grim masked figure, but the White Fang guard abruptly collapsed to the floor of the watchtower, a red mist shot from his head by a faraway source. The entering soldier quickly moved the fanus body into the corner of the watchtower room and dropped a black cable allowing his team to mount the wall. Once all of his team was inside the watchtower he called it into the radio.

"tower one secure." Onyx's plan was working like clockwork. Camilia called out the next towers, repeatedly pulling the trigger on her rifle. The radio chatter was a systematic mix of Camilia's voice and the soldiers securing the towers. One by one Onyx's men silently took control. the rest of the camp oblivious to what was happening. Hooking onto a black cable dropped out of the nearest tower, he ascended the wall. Stepping over a dead grim masked fanus as he entered the small room of the wooden guard tower. This tower had a lit candle in the back corner room on a poorly made wooden table. A disassembled civilian dust rifle was laying on the table in the process of being cleaned.

"douse the light." Onyx whispered. One of the soldiers, staying out of sight from the window, pinched the candle wick, engulfing the room in darkness. The night vision overlay became more effective now that the light source was gone. Onyx moved to the window, a twelve inch hole in the wall looking out over the interior side of the camp. He studied the layout of the camp when the sound of someone climbing the ladder below them was heard. The nine marines including Onyx listened intently on the sound of twine creaking as someone progressed up the wooden plank ladder that would lead to the wooden hatch that enters the watchtower room. Two of the marines crouched by the side of the trapdoor, one withdrawing his knife. The rest of them stayed low against the wall. The wooden hatch began to shift as someone struggled with the makeshift metal latch.

"piece of crap." a voice scolded on the other side. The latch eventually opened with a click and the trapdoor swung partway open, a hooded head peaking in. "hey Brandle is that you fucking arou-..." he was cut off as two pairs strong arms pulled him through the hatch, slamming his head into the planked floor. Knife to his neck. the grim masked fanus struggled against his captors to no avail. A knee holding his to the ground and gag slipping into his mouth. Removing a small handgun from his belt and zip-tying his hands, successfully subduing the fanus in sheer seconds with another show of expertly trained military efficiency.

The dog fanus with droopy black ears with grim mask now in two pieces on the floor where he hit his face. He looked wide-eyed and panicked. Nose broken and bleeding the fanus gave up his pitiful struggling against the strength of the soldiers. The White Fang member was dressed in tattered mud stained pants and an even worse off White Fang uniform shirt, the blood clawed wolf stamped on the back.

Onyx waved the soldier off of the fanus. The captured fanus flipped himself onto his back, getting a look at his captors. Seeing the ten black suited armed figures the fanus looked as if he was deciding either to be scared or confused. One of the suited figures walked up and keeled next to the him. The figure then twisted his helmet and lifted it from his head. Onyx's long black hair again falling over his left navy blue eye. The two fanus locked eyes for a second, Then Onyx spoke softly.

"you have two minutes to answer my questions, then I will decide what to do with you. and if you try anything" Onyx paused for effect. "well lets just say you shouldn't have to find out, do you understand?" The gagged fanus nodded. Onyx lifted the tied fanus, pressing him up against the wall holding him there. "Good, now my first question. How many White Fang are here, right now.?" Onyx said pulling out his karambit from its sheath, spinning it on his finger. The White Fang member's eyes grew wide at the knife. scared shitless he proved to be more informative than the previous two.

"I umm... I think...about eighty. no wait, ninty..ish?" The White Fang member replied. This information surprised Onyx but he didn't break his passive mask on his face, he asked another question.

"How many of you were there here a week ago?" Onyx asked slowly beginning to sink the blade of the karambit into the fanus's shoulder. A weak wine came from the fanus, followed by a heavy gasp of air when Onyx retracted the blade from his flesh, a line of red leaving the wound.

"I don't know, I really don't, I just got here a few days ago. Please I..I..I swear.." He cried out pitifully. Onyx knew he was lying and suddenly jumped his arm forward, the blade sinking an inch into the soft skin of the fanus's shoulder. But before the he could scream, Onyx quickly grabbed him by the face, covering his mouth. The sound was muffled through his finger cut gloves but the injured fanus was thriving with pain. Tears streaking now, the fanus quieted down.

"Now I'll ask you again, HOW MANY WERE HERE A WEEK AGO." Onyx demanded more aggressively, still holding the knife deep into his shoulder, giving it a small twist.

"th-th-there were a little over two hu-hundred." He said, wincing in pain. Onyx satisfied with the answer pulled out the blade, wiping the blood onto the white fang member's shirt. He stood up and turned to walk away when the White Fang member spoke to him. "you're gonna pay for that you piece of human shit." He said, the red soaking through his shirt. Onyx stopped, turned and leaned in towards the prisoner. The White Fang member was confused as Onyx pulled down the suit around his neck, revealing the metallic looking scales reflecting in the moonlight. A moment passed and then the bonded terrorist went from confident, confused, shocked, then to furious in all of a second. Eye's wide and stammering the fanus spoke shakily.

"bu-bu-but why?" The fanus stared at each other, one looking at the other with a expression of disbelief. His voice grew, "How could you be fighting for them!" the fanus gestured his head to the rest of the marines in the room watching Onyx do his work. The fanus started to yell now. "YOU FUCKING TRAI-" His voice as cut off as the curved six inch razor steel pierced his windpipe. Onyx again wiped the blade of his knife on the dying fanus's clothes and re sheathed it. He then replaced his helmet back onto his head, cutting out the sound of the fanus chocking from his own blood. Placing a finger to his helmet, he spoke.

"Listen up Vanguard, situation update. The number of hostiles is now believed to be around ninety, not the two-hundred and fifty we prepared for. But nonetheless we continue with the plan," he paused. "Begin Phase 5."

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><p><strong>SO ANOTHER CHAPTER AND SOME ACTION HERE. I JUST WANT TO SAY THAT I LOVE ANY TYPE OF FEEDBACK OR COMMENTS. IF THERE IS ANYTHING THAT SEEMS NOT CONSISTENT WITH THE RWBY MECHANICS OR ANYTHING LIKE THAT I WOULD LOVE TO EXPLAIN OR REASON WITH MY OWN IMPLEMENTS IN THE UNIVERSE OF RWBY. SHARE AND FAVORITE!<strong>


	5. Fallen Heroes & Impending Wounds

Taking in data from his wrist pad he walked over to the watchtower's window, observing the camp in more detail. From the view the window provided he could see rows upon rows of mud stained stick stand tents, most likely a terrorist in each of them. at the back of the camp was a small cluster of much larger, officer's tents. Next to that was a large stockpile of various crates and containers of all shapes and sizes. Onyx continued to scan the camp, seeing more unkempt tents and a few grim masked figures strolling around. 'unorganized, unprofessional, and undisciplined.'He thought to himself as he plotted an assault plan in his head. Small amounts of rain began to fall, the dark clouds beginning to increase above. He was just about done getting a lay of the camp when in the far back side of the camp by the stockpile a gust of wind lifted the corner of a large tarp. Revealing a row of six inactive fully armed operable Atlesian Paladin's. The massive mech suits each had a custom painted blood slashed wolf on the side. The tarp was pulled back down by a someone, once again concealing the mech's. Onyx spoke into his radio.

"Silt, report in." He waited until a gruff voice responded in a whisper.

"Still here, we had one of them walk in our tower but we kept it silent, no problems"

"good, now I just confirmed that the enemy is in possession of multiple armed Paladins."

"Shit, are they using them? How Many?"

"they don't seem to active, they have them under tarps in storage at the north side of the camp."

"you want us to take care of them?"

"Don't let anyone else get to them before your squad does. Wait for my go then use the dust charges on them."

"don't worry Onyx, we'll blow em' to hell one way or another." he put more words over the channel.

"Camilia."

"still here Onyx." The female voice responded.

"How many guards can you confirm on the wall?"

"umm... Exactly twelve."

"Good, load aura piercing rounds and on my go take out the rest of the towers."

"Roger that." Camilia said. Onyx switched channels and spoke again.

"Shadowed Fear, still with us?" He joked

"We're Here, all is quiet. But you should know that this storm is growing stronger. We have about thirty minutes until the conditions are dangerous. When that happens we cant promise you a safe extraction." The pilot said. Onyx didn't like this.

"lower to strafing distance, prepare the landing craft, we might be needing to get out of here in a hurry."

"Yes, sir." The pilot answered. Onyx withdrew Twilight's Reach off of his back checking it's ammo as he gave another command into the radio.

"Camilia start taking out the rest of the towers and pick off any deserters from the camp. all teams take around the wall, box them in. team two go with Silt's team and get those charges planted and blown as fast as you can, if they get to one of those paladins, what a night it's going to be." Onyx opened the hatch in the floor and flipped the safety off the rifle. "We are weapons free, assume all non-allied forces hostile." he said as he dropped through the hole landing on soft wet mud, the rain pouring on him. A very surprised White Fang member saw him drop from the watchtower and threw the stack of logs to the side reaching for his sidearm. But Onyx caught him off guard and had already raised Twilight's Reach putting pressure on the trigger. a soft hum emitted from from the rifle, Then in the blink of an eye a concentrated bolt of purple lightning shot and found it's way to the fanus's chest sending the White Fang member flying backwards hitting the ground, a stream of smoke trailing out of his chest.

The camp turned into complete chaos. the silence of the night shattering like glass as the sounds of battle filled the air. The fanus guards began to drop from their towers without warning as they tried to determine where or who their enemy was. Onyx's men made use of this confusion and quickly shot down the rest of the guards off the walls. The walls clear, Onyx's men began to spread out into the camp not giving any time for the enemy to wake from their tents. Many fanus were shot in their sleeping bags, while others put up a small fight having quickly grabbed a nearby weapon. Some of the remaining armed guards activated their aura if they had the ability and started to figure out where their enemy was coming from. Some of the White Fang began to land a few shots towards on the suited soldiers while other guards shot blindly in fear, causing them to shoot some of their allies in the back. The air was filled with the sound of machine-gun fire as dust ammunition was being traded off between the two forces. The cries of dying fanus and men pierced the night. The Vanguard unit was heavily armed and trained while the smaller force of fanus were outgunned and outmatched. The battle was a slaughter more like. But the fanus were putting up a strong fight, using tables, boxes and barrels as cover as their enemy circled in from all directions.

Onyx ran straight through the middle of the camp rushing towards the commander's tents on the other side. His squad was trying to keep up but they were intercepted by multiple fanus rushing out of their tents. He ran down a straight open path between two rows of tents passing out bolts of purple lighting to anyone who was fool enough to get in his way. He was just about to reach the large tents when four large armored fanus stepped out of them. a strong aura around each of them. The tiger fanus, the leader at the back of the group waved a pointed finger yelling orders. Two of the fanus ran off in a different direction as the Tiger and bear fanus caught sight of Onyx approaching and turned in his direction. Onyx wasted no time, stopping ten meters away and fired off three quick bolts of electricity at the bear fanus, shattering his dark green aura and knocking him over but not injuring him. The tiger fanus ignored his fallen ally and charged Onyx swinging a seven foot battle ax at his head. He ducked the swing and before the fanus could try for another swing Onyx jumped back pulled out his pistol popping off five rounds of dust ammunition that harmlessly deflected off of the fanus's deep orange aura. Not having seen the bear fanus get back up Onyx was caught off guard when out of nowhere the massive bear fanus slammed into his side sending him backwards handgun flying from his hand. He flipped himself back up onto his feet, transformed Twilight's Reach into the Four bladed halberd and windmilled it into the Tiger's head then sidestepping another charge from the bear fanus smacking him on the head as he ran past. Making use of his superior speed Onyx dealt a series of quick blows at the tiger. The fanus tried to keep up with Onyx's speed but couldn't as Twilight's Reach hit him hard, weakening his aura. Onyx was forced to pause his assault as he deflected a few rounds of dust ammunition from the Bear's shotgun cleaver like weapon. Windmilling off the shots he focused on The bear fanus, not wanting him to recover his aura. Onyx charged the bear fanus again conducting quick speed attacks against him. The bear fanus slower than him as he tried to fend off the attacks with his weapon but couldn't a s one of the blades sunk into his gut and protruded from his back.

Onyx held the weapon in the him for a second then ripped it out, The bear fanus's body collapsing to the ground lifeless. He then turned back to the Tiger fanus only to sidestep another ax swing that came dangerously close to his head. The Tiger's speed was surprising as he continued to swing the ax at him, Onyx evading the powerful blows. The fanus's locked blades and traded hits until Onyx's aura started to become faint and weakened from absorbing so much force. He knew he needed to finish this fight and quickly too. Onyx went for a fake swing to the Tiger's legs hoping to open a spot on his chest but the Tiger didn't fall for it. Onyx was repaid with a knee to the gut causing him to double over in pain, his aura now completely shattered, the faint purple lining shattering out of existence. The ax wielding fanus then swung at Onyx's torso cutting a deep clean line a cross his chest. Onyx was stunned as the Tiger kicked him to the ground, Twilight's reach falling out of his hand. In the muddy ground, unarmed Onyx lay. the tiger fanus lifted his ax above Onyx's neck for the final blow.

The heavy rain was growing more intense as Onyx lay in the thick mud. His world was clouded by pain as he tried to move. He tried to fight back. he tried to do anything but his body failed him. The tiger fanus was about to swing his ax onto his head but with a sudden burst of last ditch effort Onyx whipped out his karambit and stabbed it through the tiger's weak aura and into his lower leg through the thick leg muscle. The fanus screamed in pain collapsing to a kneel, bending over to grab his leg when Onyx kicked out. connecting his steel toed with the tiger's kneecap. a loud crack sounded as the bone shattered in the tiger's leg. Recovering now, Onyx took advantage of his weakened opponent and slit his knife multiple times across the tiger's leg again. Cutting the two essential muscles in his leg. The tiger collapsed completely and was rendered immobile. Onyx took his time and stood up, kicking the bloodied ax away from the fallen tiger's grip. He stood over his opponent and kicked him hard in the head. Not killing him but into unconsciousness. Onyx brought his knife down to the fanus's neck but thought better of it because the fanus was a high ranked leader of the White Fang who most likely knew valuable information that they would interrogate out of him later. He stood back up but a chunk of his vision was gone. He removed his helmet and looked over it. The large spread crack across the visor making it unusable. He discarded it, letting his long wet hair stay at his face. He placed a small thumb sized beacon device on the unconscious body and looked over the camp engulfed in blood and fire. The place looked like a war zone. The firefights had ended, some of the fanus had surrendered and were being lined up to be executed or transported, trialed at Vale then executed. Although most refused to be a human's captive and fought to the death. Onyx's men were given orders to eliminate the White Fang stronghold and that meant no prisoners, save for the leader. Some of the marines suffered minor injuries or gunshot wounds but were being treated with powerful painkillers and the blood being stopped by the few medics. Onyx began walking over to the north side of the camp, the source of the raging fires. He felt the warm ooze of blood spread through his suit as he ran. he had lost lot of it, but he continued without stop, pressing a finger to the electronic piece in his ear alternatively to his broken helmet.

"Vanguard, casualty assessment." He said. getting multiple responses of small injuries and a few gunshot wounds but in total only three of his men had been killed, which ones in particular he did not know yet. although that number could increase if his men aren't treated to advanced medical attention quickly. "Shadowed Fear. The mission is complete, begin extraction. Multiple wounded, we need medical." The heavy rains had become even heavier and the winds blowing stronger. The response was broken up.

"Roger tha-, Extrac- ships on the w-, We don't have a lo- of time, the storm-, stronger." The pilots voice was cut out but Onyx got the message. They needed to get out of here. Jogging steadily past numerous acres of bodies and blood, He made it to the northern most wall. The ground was littered with flaming pieces of metal and the remnants of what were the Paladins. Two scratched armor black suited figures approached him. The one on the left remover her helmet, revealing a a sharp face and a pair of Ice blue eyes. She was Silt's second officer. She looked at the increasing amounts of red soaking into my armor.

"Do you need a medic sir?" she asked

"No I'll be fine." I responded, standing up a little straighter.

"I'll start regrouping the squads now sir." But before Onyx could respond a voice screamed into the air

"**fucking move**!" A huge explosion of ash and earth shot him off of his feet, slamming him hard into a nearby crate. Mud rained on his face and a loud ringing in his ears deafened him but his hearing recovered in a few seconds. Shaking his head from the blast Onyx looked to see what caused it. The world was back to chaos as shouting and gunfire filled his ears. He saw the woman that was blasted back with him get up and quickly dive to the left just as another explosion of earth replaced where she just was. He covered his face from the shrapnel with his arm, looking and seeing the twenty foot Paladin standing over him. He just stared back at it in shock until his instincts kicked in, making him dive in the opposite direction as another blast rumbled the ground where he was previously. The soldiers scattered in every direction, diving behind crates and taking cover under anything they could as the mech released a salvo of rockets at every target available, firing In unison with it's attached auto cannons. Onyx jumped behind a nearby stack of steel crates smeared with blood. One of the soldiers left in the open ran for Onyx's spot as well but was gunned down as the Auto cannons ripped him to pieces. Chunks of flesh and mud left the soldiers body leaving the mutilated corpse riddled with holes. The paladin turned it's attention to the other soldier who were either still running or were stupid enough to try to penetrate the thick armor with simple dust ammunition. The mech continued to paint the ground with craters and holes adding more blood to the muddy ground. Onyx taking back his role as a commander dished out orders to his men.

"Get out of it's way! Silt the dust charges, NOW!" Onyx peaked from over the brain spattered crate waiting for something to happen to the Paladin. The mech showed no sign of effect as it continued to fire at the covering targets.

"Silt right fucking now!" Onyx ordered fiercely. More and more soldiers dropped to the ground as the Paladin caught them with it's guns until when a light followed by a streak of smoke hit the Paladin's side, causing it to stumble and turn to where the rocket came from. Then another rocket shot into the paladins other side, then again from it's back. The soldiers in Silt's squad firing their high explosive mini dust rockets launchers to weaken the Paladin. Onyx used the small opening to charge the Paladin and sliced at it's lower leg segment. The mech returned with its massive arm, swinging at Onyx. He jumped out of the way of the arm as another rocket hit the mech right in the center cockpit. The Paladin stuttered for a second then it partway collapsed onto one leg with an immense thud as the tons of metal hit the ground. The soldiers wasted no time and stuck a small silver beeping package onto the fallen robot. The soldiers including Onyx all ran away from the mech until the five second timer ended. Onyx turned to look at he fireworks that shot into the sky. The bonfire of metal and fuel crackled and popped brightly as the soldiers watched, admiring the sight. Then went to finding who was alive and returning to helping their injured comrades. Onyx's vision was becoming blurry now and his head was swamping. He looked down at the fatal cut that he was applying pressure to. The wound penetrated deep into his gut, crimson liquid leaking steadily out. He pressed his hand back to his stomach feeling the pain grow now that the adrenaline had worn off. He then partly collapsed but caught himself on a nearby metal crate with brain matter and blood decorating it. He spoke into his earpiece.

"I need a medi-..." He barely got out the words as he completely fell to the ground, his body limp and weak due to massive losses of blood. Each breath was shallower and shallower as he lay in the mud. then suddenly the ground began to shake. The sound of a loud animal screeching and wood cracking filled Onyx's ears. He turned his head and focused his vision at the left section of the wall that now had a twenty foot hole in it. a massive White scaled and red grim style decorated King Taijitu slithered into the camp, engaging with the soldiers. He saw that his men had the situation mostly under control, outnumbering the giant snake until The twin black King Taijitu came through the wall as well, making another twenty foot hole in the massive wooden wall. The sound of gunfire,snake screeching and the jets of landing craft were the last thing he remembered as his vision went black and lost consciousness among the rain and wind in the black of night.

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><p><strong>I WOULD JUST LIKE TO THANK ALL OF YOU WHO ARE READING. I SPENT EXTRA TIME TO MAKE THE FIGHT SCENES MORE QUALITY. BUT AGAIN IF THERE ARE OBVIOUS THINGS THAT NEED TO BE FIXES MAKE SURE TO LEAVE AN OPINION BECAUSE I WILL READ THEM AND RESPOND TO 99.99% OF THEM IF THEY ARE QUESTIONS OR JUST PM ME. YES, THIS CHAPTER DOES END ACT I. I HAVE SEVEN ACTS PLANNED OUT SO FAR SO MUCH MORE STORY TO COME. BUT BETWEEN THE ACTS THERE WILL BE A SHORT BREAK IN UPDATES. IT WONT LAST MORE THAT A FEW WEEKS HOWEVER. THANKS FOR THE SUPPORT PLEASE FAVORITE AND FOLLOW IF YOU LIKE IT!<strong>


	6. Climaxus

Chapter.5 **Climaxus**

In his sleep Onyx dreamed about his brighter memories. Not that he had many, but he held tight to the precious moments in his childhood when he felt innocent and safe. Fearing that these invaluable memories would slip away and leave him nothing but the hard truth of the present.

Before he found himself in the military he was a orphan. Usually life as an orphan in Atlas was short and sweet as adoption rates were high and the wealthy city took good care of it's public services. But his younger life was not one deserving to any child. His orphan life was cruel and dangerous. He could never make friends with any of the other children, not even the other fanus children because they were scared of him. He was bullied constantly and always an outcast wherever he went. The orphanages always sent him to other shelters because he either caused to much trouble with the other kids or they kicked him out simply because he was a fanus. From orphanage to orphanage he eventually was filtered down to the shadier parts of Atlas where he quickly learned how to take care of himself by stealing and lying to survive. His childhood was not easy by any means as he learned how to kill at the age of twelve and was almost killed himself countless times. No matter where he went trouble always seemed to follow. He was quite good at his criminal life style until he was caught. The family that caught him also happened to be a line of snake fanus's like himself. Instead of turning him over to the authorities the family by his luck decided to take Onyx in as one of their own. at first he considered the family to be nothing but another foster family that he would be forced to leave from any day. But a year passed and he started to grow close to them. He had never experienced these kinds of feelings before. Ones where he was loved and cared for. Knowing that someone would sacrifice something for your benefit was something alien to him.

After a while Onyx started to love his family and considered himself to be a part of it, taking their last name unto himself. During the next two years he began to express his love for computers and reading, going to the library to read just about every day. These are the memories he liked to remember. The one's where was happy and could be a child a gain, loved and pure. But his luck always seemed to be short lived. Only after being with his new adopted family for two years another but smaller fanus rights uprising skirmish began. During the few weeks of the deadly conflict the Nightfall family was caught in the crossfire and slaughtered by their own kind, save for Onyx who made it out alive. These were the nightmare's that haunted him.

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><p>As my dreams drifted off into the dreaded nightmares I began to wake up, dragging me back to the world that I desperately tried to leave behind. I strained my eyes, adjusting to the light as I woke and saw what I would have to put a the top of the list of what I would like to wake up to. She had deep forest green eyes with A hint of spring and flowing straight blonde hair like a waterfall of spun gold. She looked at me with the face of concern and placed the back of her hand to my head. My eyes were locked in a accidental half unconscious gaze at the two very profound curves that extended from her chest. She realized I had been staring, although I had not meant too. She turned away, her face a bright red. I tried to mutter an a apology but my throat was dry and cracked. all that got out was a small inaudible croak. The attractive blonde went out of my view, making me want to lay up. I tried but a huge surge of pain exploded in my gut that I was not prepared for.<p>

"Oh, No just lay down and try to relax. I'll give you something for the pain." She said, meddling with various bottles on a nearby cart. I turned my head so see. Catching glimpses of many rows of hospital beds against a white wall, a few of them with occupants in them. She returned into my view with a large needle. I found my voice a little better this time and stopped her from stabbing it into me.

"No, no meds." I said, brushing the needle away with my hand.

"are you sure?" she asked uncertainly.

"yes I'll be fine, Thank you." Lifting my head I looked where my legs should have been and instead they were covered with an olive colored blanket. My body was numb, probably from the IV they had put into my arm. I've never been a fan of injecting medicine into my body. I also noticed my torso had nothing covering it, leaving it bare save for the thick wrapping of white bandages that covered my lower gut. But otherwise boldly displaying my toned body and patch of black scales that covered a part of my chest. I made a second but successful attempt at sitting up, the attractive nurse helping me as I leaned against the back of the angled bed. I took in my surroundings. The room was was long but narrow, clean beds lined against the windowed white walls. a various assortment of medical instruments by each one. The woman standing next to me was a nurse, telling by her white uniform. She was the only other person in the long room who wasn't in a bed, except for the stiff guard at the door.

"Do you need anything Lieutenant Nightfall? Wait sorry. Captain Nightfall sir." she asked then corrected. I turned my head back to her. She was carrying a metal clipboard with a few forms clipped into it.

"Water, please." I croaked out. She already had a small cup of water prepared on the wheeled cart next to her and she gave it me, placing it my hands. I took the cup and drank the liquid too fast, causing me to cough up halfway through.

"try to slow down." she said, taking the empty cup and placing it back on the cart. I though about what she said a second ago.

"Captain?" I asked, curious why she addressed me a rank higher.

"yes, oh that's right you couldn't have known since you were in here, but I think someone should be here to clear things up with you. I'll let them know that you woke up." She said then turned to walk a way. I stopped her.

"what's your name?" I asked. She turned back to me

"Miss. Gold, but you can just call me Goldie, sir." she said with a sly wink with her long eyelashes then walked off, putting more sway into her hips than what was needed. I was still immensely confused, trying to grasp back to what happened previous to waking up here. The memories of the mission coming back to me, I remembered being injured and blacking out. This must be some sort of infirmary, definitely not a hospital. I could tell by the guard that stood by the door wearing a military uniform and holding his hands formally behind his back. I looked back over the other patients in the room, some of the faces were completely covered in bandages but from he faces I could see I recognized two of them. Both of them were part of the Vanguard unit assigned to me. I desperately wanted to talk to them, to ask about what happened but they were both sound a sleep or unconscious. I was just about to call the nurse back over to ask her another question when the white metal door opened on the other side of the room. I couldn't see who was on the other side of the doorway because the guard blocked their entry. I saw a few badges and ID's flashed then the guard stepped a side allowing the two figures to enter the room. One of them I recognized instantly, it was Camilia. She wore a clean sharp Grey formal uniform, matching her steel colored hair. Seeing her familiar face made me smile. She caught my stare from a cross the room and we locked eyes, a large friendly grin spreading on her face matching my own ridiculous smile. The man who stood next to her was an older man and featured aged Grey hair. But his composure screamed with authority without any hint of old age. He wore a black formal uniform with many colorful pendants displayed on both his breasts, labeling his as a high ranking officer, possibly a high major. The nurse pointed them in my direction and they walked over to where I sat comfortably, watching the two approach my bedside. Cami nearly reached to give me a hug where I lay but she stopped mid action remembering we weren't alone.

"you are one crazy son-of-a-bitch, you know that?" she said playfully. But before I could respond to her the taller man behind her spoke up.

"good morning Captain Nightfall, I trust you rested well?" he asked politely. I had no idea how to address him so I played it by the book.

"yes sir." I said.

" but first, I don't think we've met. allow me to introduce myself. I am Colonel Autumns." he stated proudly, extending his hand out to me. I took it and shook firmly. I was wondering why a colonel would come to see me personally.

"honored sir." I said, retracing from the handshake. Autumns cleared his throat.

"yes, now I've come here to congratulate you on your recent promotion and outstanding victory."

"promoted sir?" I asked looking for answers.

"Indeed, you made quite an impression in the higher uppers in Atlas. I wouldn't be surprised if they try to steal you from me. He said with a humorous chuckle. I looked to Camilia, still lost as to what was happening but she remained passive and unhelpful.

"I'm not quite sure where I am yet sir." I admitted, looking for more answers. The colonel scoffed.

"Why, your at the pride of my career, Climaxus Base." he stated proudly, Waving his arm acknowledging the surrounding room. 'of course' I thought. Climaxus was built eight years ago in response to large grim breach into Vale from the north. It was originally supposed to act as an outpost to warn the city in advance but the founding colonel, 'Autumns' turned it into a formidable strong point, a key piece in Vale's northern defenses. Climaxus is one of the very few military factors present in Vale. Technically all of the military are part of Atlas's national force. But after 'The War' Atlas has been using it's dominant military to assist Vale since they do not have one, as a bonding treaty between the two Kingdoms.

"but I'm afraid I can't give you the grand tour. I've already stayed too long. I should be going. It was pleasure to meet you Captain. I expect we should be seeing each other in the future." With saying that, Autumns turned and left, Camilia and I watching him leave until he was out of sight before speaking.

"whatever that was about." I said staring at the doorway the colonel left through then turning my gaze to Camilia.

"oh, don't worry. The boys and I will catch you up at lunch." she paused, taking a look at me. "so. How does it feel?" she asked

"what. Me or the bed?"

"No, how does it feel to be alive? smart one."she said with with a mix of playful friendliness.

"It was just a scratch." I said nonchalantly. She looked down at the bandages covering half my torso.

"mmhuh...I'm sure." she said sarcastically.

"well if it makes you feel better, it did hurt a bit." she let out a small laugh shaking her head. A small pause of silence followed until Camilia found her words, soft and affectionate.

"you know, I really thought you weren't going to make it. It scared the living hell out of me. The wound was deep and we got you here so late, I'm sorry." she said lowering her gaze to the floor.

I could tell she was truly sorry, it made feel bad. It it not often that she was like this. Normally Camilia was the rock that I would always have to rely on. But even the strongest crack, especially when it comes to friends.

I reached an affectionate hand on her shoulder, she looked me in the eye with a soft expression."Cami, you're saying this like it's your fault. But it's not. I'm fine don't worry about me, see?" I lifted my arms as display while I grinning at her. This caused her face to light up with a smile as she wrapped her arms around me tightly in a friendly hug.

"Dammit Onyx, your sappy bullshit works and I hate it." she said retracting from the hug with a large smile on her face. 'I had definitely said the right things then' I thought. "I'm going to find out when we can get you out of this hellhole." she said looking around the room for the single nurse.

"How long was I out?" I asked.

"two days. But that's ending now " she said simply, still looking for the nurse.

"hey I think if I just rested for a bit. Some sleep sounds pretty good right a bout no-..." she cut me off.

"Nope. You're coming with me, no way out of it." she looked me dead center in the eye. "and you still owe me that date you promised and I'll be damned if you die in here before that." she said in a tone that let me know there was no way to change her mind. "I'll be right back." she said leaving the side of my bed. I reached for the half empty cup of water on the nearby stand and finished the rest in a single gulp. Only then did I realize how hungry I truly was. It has been a few days since I last ate. Then she returned with the blonde nurse.

"He can leave as soon as I finish some last things, it shouldn't take long." the nurse said to Camilia. She observed the digital instruments by my bed and wrote something on her clipboard.

"great" Camilia said turning back to me. Her face grew serious and she leaned closer to me. "you are not going to believe what happened while you were out." she said quietly.

"why? what happened?" I asked wanting to know what has her so on edge. Camilia shot a glance at the nearby nurse then she leaned further over my bed closer to my ear.

"not here, I'll tell you later."

"okay?"I said uncertainly. The nurse turned to me listing things off her clipboard.

"you can leave now but I recommend not stressing anything around your core. I filed a two week official leave for you to recover." She looked at me questionably. "Do you want a chair?"

"No, I'll be fine." I would be caught dead if the other marines if they saw me in a damn wheelchair. I would die before that happened. I threw the blankets off my legs. Luckily I was wearing some gray sweat pants. Swinging my legs to the side of the bed I lifted off. My bare feet hit the cold tiled floor. I was a little edgy but my legs held up surprisingly better than what they felt like.

Camilia was closely observing my movements, "you good?".

"yeah, I think so." I said feeling pretty good about my balance.

"then lets go eat, but first we gotta cover that up." she said pointing to my bare chest. I let out the smallest of blushes.

"Right. Now if I had some clothes that would be something."

"don't worry, I brought these from your rooms." she pulled a small bag off of her shoulder, one that I had not noticed earlier. She pulled out a gray uniform jacket with matching slacks. The chest fashioned many colorful pendants that i had been awarded over the years including my name stitched into it.

"you stole these from my rooms?" I asked, accusing her playfully.

Camilia put on a false face of shock and hurt trust. "No...I borrowed these without asking. **Huge** difference."

"Mmmhuh." I took the uniform and began to dress from the bundle of clothes. Without having her turn around I quickly finished and ran my finger through my bedhead a few times to look somewhat presentable. Feeling confident with my appearance I was more than ready to leave the antiseptic smell of the infirmary and put something in my belly.

Starting for the door ready to leave Camilia called out. "Hey, forgetting something?" She teased, holding out a white, hand sized device.

"Thanks," I said stupidly as I put my scroll in my pocket. Together we exited the medical wing and into A large metal corridor. The large concrete and steel hallway with few sources of natural light suggested we were underground, which wouldn't be uprising because Climaxus was built to resist all forms of grim and other attack. I had no idea where to go in the labyrinth of massive hallways so I just followed her. We stayed to the side of the pass way as every minute or so a large motorized cart would pass by, carrying anything from machine parts to warheads. The hallways were abnormally empty, most likely everyone was at the cafeteria catching the reserved time when lunch was served. A small awkwardness grew between us as we walked in silence.

"so, any word on what happened up at the transmit tower last week?" I asked, attempting conversation.

"not anything new, but the techies up there say it was just a glitch in the system. Although they couldn't explain why whoever they were did what they did and what they did."

"Do you think it has something to to do with the White Fang?"

"not really. I don't know what on remnant they would be doing with the tower. But the higher uppers are staying very hush hush about it."

"I see."

"all that we know is that someone, we don't know who, but whoever they are, they disabled seven armed guards and killed one of them. The intruder did whatever they did in the tower until a huntress. A Huntress in training from the local academy walked in on them. The huntress's name i believe to Ruby Rose or something like that, but I'm not sure. The officials aren't revealing much information. Have you heard of her?"

"yeah, she and her team were the ones who destroyed that rouge Paladin a few weeks ago right?" I asked, remembering the flood of news stories and damage reports I had to send back to the council.

"Yep that's the one. I was up at vale when that happened and damn were the Councilors pissed. I have a friend in the Atlesian goods exporting department and he got the worst end of it. He says that has no idea how the White Fang got equipment that's not even permitted for use in the military yet. He also says there might be a rat in the system." she said more quietly.

We passed a group of socializing crew workers wearing orange jackets and yellow helmets. As they caught sight of me they immediately stood up and faced me with a formal salute. I wasn't quite sure how to respond so I kept walking past, ignoring them.

"I assume that is because of this?" I asked fingering the new silver captain's pendant on my jacket.

"Yep, but don't be expecting me to give you any of that crap." she said, making a mock salute, causing me to laugh. We met the end of one of the hallways entering a massive cafeteria. The room had enough metal rows of tables to seat thousands of people. Nearly all of the seats were full of white t-shirted and dog tagged men and women making idle chatter among themselves. There were very few officer's in the room because they got their own quarters and private meals. But I was here to see his team and he preferred some real people to talk to. Camilia led me down the rows until I caught sight of multiple familiar faces at one of the tables who greeted us warmly.

"Glad you guys could make it," The big muscular man named Silt said in his rough friendly voice getting up from the table to greet us. "good to see you again Cami." Silt placed a friendly hand on her shoulder then he turned to look at me. A huge grin spread on his face. "Damn, look at this bastard. Back from the dead." he said locking arms with mine in a brotherly gesture.

"good to see you too," I said. Then another man sitting at the table with the arian features of blue eyes and sandy hair spoke up.

"No kidding. Jesus Onyx we saw that Paladin blast you to hell. Why ever you aren't dead beats me. But good thing you ain't. Sit down and I'll go get you some food. What do you want?" Beach asked getting up from the table.

I had no idea what I wanted. "just anything really, Thanks Beach". The Blonde was A rather slim figure compared to the rest of the soldier but he made up for it in his perfectly sculpted bodily features. He always reminded me of someone that would be a model in a magazine.

"yea, no problem captain." Beach said then left in search of the buffet tables.

"well sit down then." Silt said gesturing to the empty spots on the metal bench of the chrome table. Camilia and I took seats opposite from each other.

Silt took a look at the bandages on my arm. "you know word around here is that you're some kind of fanus demon." I raised an eyebrow at him. "yea no joke. The men say that nobody should have lived what you did. But they're all just a bunch of dumbshits. "

"Got lucky I guess." I said at a loss for better words.

Silt agreed, "They just don't like the idea of a fanus bossing them around. Not that you being five years younger than the rest of us is going to help either. And speaking of which, me and beach went around and found out that your rank makes you the tenth most authoritative person in this steel trap of a base." I shook my head at the crazy fact. "I'm serious, I think Autumns is going to go nuts when a fanus starts replacing his higher officers. There has been a lot of talk about you actually."

"Has there?" I asked intrigued.

"Yep, some talk about a 'filthy fanus' cheating his way to the top. Damn lunatics." He laughed to himself then he turned to me with a serious face. "But I would watch your back when we aren't around. Alright?"

"Got it."

Camilia looked back and forth between us. "OK, enough of your conspiracy. nothing going to happen to him while he's here." she looked at me. "I think Autumns like's you to much to let anything happen." For the next few minutes none of us said anything. The sounds of hundreds of other conversations and clacking silverware filling the air. Then Silt revived the conversation

"Hey did you two hear about-" he stopped and looked to his left and right making sure nobody was nearby and leaned in closer to the table near us. "did you hear that Beach found himself a dame. A pretty one too if I'm any judge. Don't say anything about it cause-"

"Mmh hum." Beach stood behind him carrying two trays of food, irritation clear on his angry face. Silt whipped around and met the arians eye's.

"I uhhh...it was...I.." Silt tried to look for a way out of it.

"Just shut up. I was going to tell you all anyways. I was just waiting for the right time." He said putting down one of the trays in front of me.

"Like hell you were. You've been keeping her a secret for weeks now!" Silt countered.

"Thanks for trailing me all over Vale and going through my stuff to find that one out big guy."

"Fine I might have been a bit nosy. What's her name anyways..crysi or crias..."

"it's Crystal for your information, thanks for asking this time." The blonde said annoyed.

"I was just curious." Silt said putting his hands up defensively. I was too engaged in my mashed potatoes to care much about what they were arguing about. Beach did a half face palm, shaking his head at Silt. He then turned to me.

"So how much leave did they give you?" he asked, playing with the steel ring on his index finger.

"Two weeks. But I'm not going to need all that time. Got too much work to get back to." I said through a mouthful of food, remembering the vast amounts of paperwork that would be needed to be filled out later.

"Alright cool. The rest of us have a mandatory leave for tomorrow. Let's go hit the city and do something." Beach suggested.

Silt nodded, "sounds good to me. I know this good place where-" Camilia put a hand up to Silt.

"No strip clubs, I've told you before! and I'm only up for it if Onyx is." Camilia said. All of their gazes fell onto me, waiting for a response. I though about all the training I needed to catch back up on. Then remembered what Camilia said in the infirmary.

"I don't see why not." I answered setting my fork down and drinking a gulp of milk out a container labeled "Utterly Delicious"

The blonde man fist-pumped, "Awesome, I'm gonna go hit the gym. But I don't have a sparring partner." He looked at Silt. "Care to?" He asked smiling deviously.

Silt mirrored Beach's smug smile, "you mean you need someone to beat your arrogant ass, sure I'll do it." Silt and Beach rose from the table, Beach placing a friendly hand on Silt's shoulder.

"Ha, you make me laugh." Beach responded sarcastically. Together they left the cafeteria, leaving the two of us with our food.

Camilia shook her head with a half smile. "those two are going to end up married one day." I cracked a smile as well then went back to my food, finishing it in a few minutes. The two of us emptied out trays and stopped at the entrance to the Cafeteria.

Camilia turned to look at me, "well I should get going." She said regrettably.

"what for?"

"There was a friend of mine in Vanguard who didn't make it. I just think that I should go see his family in Vale." She answered with a hidden sadness in her voice.

"I understand. Are you still going with us tomorrow?"

"Of course."

"See you later then." I said to her the left the cafeteria through a different entrance than the one I entered from. Finding my way to the officer's wing was not a problem because I take the route to it multiple times a day. Passing through the steel corridors and through a large blast door like entrance into the officer's hallway. The change in setting was instant. The floor was hard wood instead of cement and steel grate. The hallways were much better lit with windows allowing natural light to pour in. The walls were still a steel plating but you would never notice under the cream colored paint that gave the space a more inviting feeling. Marines and worker have to sleep in rooms with as many as twenty bunks in them and normally no windows but I had the privilege of using accommodations more to my liking due to my position. I traced down the long fancy hallway passing door after numbered door. Each door had a bronze, silver, gold,or platinum plate in them with the assigned officer's name etched into it. The different material of plate signifies that particular persons rank or standing. I eventually met the door with a new looking silver plate boldly displaying 'Nightfall' on the etched front. I took out my scroll and swiped it near the digital detector and the door unlocked with a strong click. I pushed open the heavy metal door and flicked the light on the wall. The place was a mess. But what do expect from a nine-teen year old. Although my position forces me to take up large responsibilities but I can't ignore my teenage impulses forever. Stepping over a pile of scattered clothing I shut the door behind me. The room looked like any other single bed hotel room except for the metal weapon locker and the over sized digital desk setup in the corner. Nothing was particular fancy looking save for the bed that featured a self heating system that I installed myself because nights in northern Vale can get quite cold. I stepped into the middle of the room and got to my first order of business.

"Sarah." I called out. I waited for a second and then a circular display device on the ceiling came to life and projected a holographic image in the middle of the room, a few feet away from me. She was wearing as close as you can get to a digital officers uniform. Her pixeled hair was in a ponytail that ended at her shoulders. Her face looked very young and delicate. She held her hands behind her back in a respectful posture. The holographic woman spoke, words matching her moving digital mouth.

"Yes Captain Nightfall?" Her artificial voice asked. I moved a box of half eaten take out off of a stack of papers and began shuffling through them.

"Compose a message to all personnel who were actively involved in the Vanguard assignment."

She responded with computer like speed. "That is a list of sixty-four recipients. What would you like to say sir?"

"Inform them of my two week medical leave and that all needs of me will need to be put to hold for the time being, they may leave a message is they wish."

"right away sir, Message sent. Would that be all?" The hologram asked.

"Yes, that's all. Thank you." with my response the woman's image blinked out of existence. Removing my gray officers jacket and hanging it up in the nearby closet I walked over to the large black metal locker set in the corner of the room. Punching in the twelve digit code the door unlocked with an assuring click. I opened the locker and double checked to make sure Twilight's Reach was safely inside right along the bundle of ancient cloth with the razor dust blade inside. I withdrew the knife and re familiarized myself with it. The blade was made from pure forged Atlesian metal and fused with dust. It would need to be recharged soon since the fragile red glow along the black blade had stated to die out. Using a dust reinforced blade had it's perks and it's consequences. Mainly due to the safety to it's user and the unique ability the dust gives in combat. I restocked the locker with the knife wrapped in it's cloth again and re-locked the door. I felt more secure now that I knew where my weapons where and that they were close by. Kinda like how having a pet dog nearby would make someone feel safer in a unfamiliar place. I shook my head of the thoughts and looked forward to the much needed and deserved break and I was going to take full advantage of it. What better way to start off my leisure than with good fictional book or two. I especially enjoyed reading fictional stories. My favorite is one I read many years ago about how a grim absorbed a human soul and walked among us as a living person but still a half grim. But during my few hours of reading I began to feel increasingly tired and in need of more sleep. You would be surprised how easily one can get tired after nearly having died in the past few days. I considered making myself some coffee but resisted the urge and decided some real sleep would do me good. Laying in the slightly uncomfortable bed that was sure to put an ache in my back he next morning I stared at the ceiling for a long while. I had lost track of time deep in though as my mind wandered. When the memories of my far past started to rise I would quickly shoot them down, hiding them behind what was happening in the present as I have been doing so for many many years. Hiding from your own past is not an easy thing to do But it can be done, but for how long I do not know. But I tried anyways, in fear of what I may remember and in these thoughts my mind drifted off into the void.

* * *

><p><strong>thank you all again for reading. Much more development in this chapter. I would just like to say that the rest of the story will be heavily focused on the Atlesain military battalion at Climaxus. The story will and is following current events in the RWBY storyline. My fan fic will not obsceure the real storyline in any way. Or if it accidentally does i will either fix it immediately as new episodes are released and reveal more to the much action in this chapter but again the scene is being set up so i thank you for being patient and please follow and favorite if you enjoy my addition to RWBY. <strong>


	7. Mother Of Remnant

Chapter 6. **Mother Of Remnant**

My long lasted sleep was softly broken to a faint buzzing sound on the nearby side table. Groaning I grabbed the scroll and looked at the callers name. It was Camilia. I just let it ring out and set it back down. I lay there for a second, letting the soft golden rays of the morning sun warm my face. It felt great and I was half tempted to fall back asleep right then and there but I was already very late. In a hurry I tossed clothes about my floor and threw on a black t-shirt under a Grey stylish trench coat then a pair of navy blue camo print cargo pants and finally my familiar black steel toes. This was alternative to my uniform that I only wore when I needed to. But otherwise I preferred my casual wear. Pulling out a black duffle bag from underneath my bed I began filling it with what I would need for the next two weeks. My plan was to spend the day with the team then check in at one of hotels in Vale. After that I'll just have to wing it. Finishing off the bag with a last pair of socks I grabbed my wallet and counted the lien. It would be enough to get me through the next week or two. I just wouldn't be able to do much shopping while I'm there. Putting in the code to the locker I retrieved Twilight's Reach. The weapon had a much more ancient name, "Tenebris Contineo" but I found it a bit to much to say so I kept to the translated Twilight's Reach instead. After slinging the strap of the rifle over my arm I carefully placed the neat wrapped bundle of ceremonial looking cloth into the bag. The knife also had a name of ancient origin of times before my own going by the words of "Silentium Sed Mactablis". I am not saying that both of the weapons were relics of ancient times. Well the knife was an object I procured some time ago and so I had not the slightest clue as to how old it is but Twilight's Reach I had made myself many years ago. It may seem odd for a soldier such as myself to 'forge' or create my own weapon because that practice was somewhat know for use at the combat schools that would send eager children to train and turn into elite soldiers, or huntsmen they called themselves. But I found the forging of my own weapon as a valuable accomplishment and it had payed for itself many times.

Right before leaving out the door of my quarters I quickly grabbed the book I had been reading the previous night and made my hurried way through the labyrinth of metal corridors full of soldiers, techies, and robots alike. Stepping over a incline in the metal grated floor of the underground corridor a patterned series of vibrations buzzed through the pocket of my pants. I stopped walking and pulled out my scroll. It was a message from Cami that read, [MEET US IN HANGER 1-F]. I detoured from my route to the cafeteria a little disappointed about not being able to catch some breakfast as I was terribly hungry but they have been waiting for me long enough. I left the parts of the vast base where soldiers milled about and into where the hallways that were much more populated with orange vested techies and engineers. More large carts of machinery passed by and most everyone I passed seemed to give me small looks of mixed recognition. A few salutes and a few cold stares. I tried to ignore most of the attention until I met one of the ten meter blast doors labeled 1-F in bright yellow paint on the hardened steel teethed door. I waved my scroll by a scanner and the two part door hissed and split away revealing the massive hanger room. The cavernous space held a singular massive airship the size a city block and rows of smaller jet craft. The center landing pad of the hanger was occupied by a singular black landing craft attached to dust fuel lines and busy engineers efficiently preparing the craft for take-off. A loud commanding but bored voice on the PA system said and listed numbers and orders controlling what happened when in the hanger.

"Departure approved, Clear for takeoff." The booming voice said. At the words the dust engine on the landing craft roared to life. I wished I had a set of earmuffs like the workers as the ship ascended into the air in seconds. Accelerating towards the roof of the hanger that was opened to the clear blue sky. The hanger, well most of the base was underground so ships descended into the holes in the mountain that housed Climaxus and ships shot from them like bees from a hive. As soon as the ship left the hanger another jet craft was immediately trollied onto the launch platform, being hooked up to dust fuel lines by the engineers preparing it for takeoff as well. I scanned the large space until I saw the windowed control room. It was elevated midway between the floor and the ceiling resting in the corner where two of the four walls met. I climbed the metal stairs leading up to a catwalk where I made my way to the control room. I could see Beach's blonde hair, blue eyes and always lively face through the window of the room. I came to the metal door and again swiped my scroll by a scanner adjacent to the sealed door but before it finished scanning the door opened to Silt's gruff impatient face. Him standing there towering over me and twice the size with brutal looking scars on his face would have scared anyone else shitless. To me however his presence made me feel suddenly at ease.

"Glad you could make it." He greeted in a gruff accent, a hint of impatience in his voice.

"Likewise." I said passing him by and entering the slightly cramped triangular room. Beach and Camilia met my entry with relieved looks then quickly turning to irritated stares.

"What took you so long?" Camilia demanded harshly Arms crossed. Her silver hair was pony tailed behind her making her somehow look a bit more aggressive but still quite attractive as always.

Beach jumped in as well with his cheerful tone. "We were about to leave without you." he pointed to himself proudly. "I convinced them otherwise."

"slept in." I said simply, shrugging my shoulders nonchalantly.

Silt looked at all three of us, " I believe it should be time we get going." I nodded and was about to leave back through the door I came through when a man I had not noticed before sitting at the control desk overlooking the hanger spun his chair around and looked over the four of us assuming a business like posture with interlocked fingers. A sign of impatience and a attitude of someone who controlled a great many things. He had red hair like flame and equally tinted eyes of red glinting gems. His sculpted face and narrow eyes on his pale skin were well defined. His artful lips moved and the voice of a true person of practiced managing spoke.

"If you want to make the ship I've been so generously holding for you. I recommend you hurry. Today has been quite a busy day, lots of traffic going around. Five more minutes I will hold it for you." Camilia stepped up to the redhead and bent over to kiss him on the head.

"Thanks Cryme." She said sweetly. Cryme returned the smile meeting her eye affectionately.

"Anything for you Cami, See you back soon?" He said as a question.

"depends. I have a bit of...business to attend to this week. Afterwards I'll make sure to meet up with you." She said leaving for the door with the rest of us. We left the control room and onto the highly elevated catwalk. I debated if to ask her about what happened in there. I had not known she was seeing anyone but that was hardly my business anyhow. I swallowed down the questions and Silt took the duffle off of my shoulders and heaved it onto his own with no apparent effort at all. I wondered truly just how strong he was.

"I'll get that for you." He said and left down the catwalk stairs not waiting for an answer. The four of quickly loaded onto a small jet craft that had a cockpit and a small passenger bay with seats lined at both interior walls leaving room for cargo at the middle. We packed what small things we brought and stuffed them inside compartments overhead then strapped ourselves into the four of the fifteen rowed seats. In about five minutes the craft lifted off of the ground and cleared the roof of the hanger vertically ascending into the open air outside the northern mountains of Vale. The sight would have been breathtaking if we had not been here for quite a while and seen all that there is to see. Well almost all. The massive mountains still spiked wonder and awe in me no matter how many times I see them. The mountain range was one of the many reasons that Vale had survived long as it has. Inside the protective wall of the mountains is where the vast Civilization of middle Remnant strives. But outside the wall only brave pioneers, bandits, and Grim roamed. Complete wilderness. Climaxus was the separator of those two worlds. The ship flew with great speed and eventually the mountains faded into the distance as we flew into the clouds and above heading inland towards the great city of Vale itself.

During the duration of the trip itself the four of us spoke of small things like what our first stop would be when we got there and again having to convince Beach that we would and will be avoiding the strip clubs. Well as best we can, never know what could happen though. Our outings happened to go this way however. Always slow at first then after a few drinks the real adventures start to happen. The type where you wake up the next morning with only memory of half the night, the rest completely lost except for the bruises and odd marks left on you. Vale was the perfect city for this kind of thing. The city has been well known for the eccentric night life from the many clubs and less reputable locations. Well this was true of all cities but Vale was somewhat of a hot spot. If you knew where to look for these things of course.

The trip had been much shorter that I had expected because I had always taken trips to the city by train. Not by jet craft. Before the city even came into view through the small circular window of the ship I could already make out the massive towering Schnee transmit tower, up shooting all the other building within a thousand miles. The building was impressive in height but also in the artistic architectural features that made it up. When we flew in over the Vale air center that lay at the edge of the city, the rest of the metropolis came into view. Most of the view was hundreds of thousands of simple flat Grey modern roofs that made up a city. But already the sign of technological advancement could be seen. Large advertising holographic displays shined in the commercial areas. A great many parks of green and small ponds also dotted the vast sight of Grey building and black pavement streets lined with green trees. The city was an outstanding show of wealth and abundance.

Our ship landed and we quickly went through the process of unloading our small things and we navigated the busy hallways of the air center passing hundreds of unique people from all over Remnant, entering or leaving Vale. Exiting through the sliding doors to the air center and into the warm outside air of the city. I was met with nearly being splashed by a wave of brown water kicked up by a passing car. I cursed loudly but the rest of my teammates laughed at me for jumping from it like a cat.

"It almost had you!" Beach joked. "but seriously Vale drivers are bloody terrible."

"did it rain recently?" I asked, genuinely puzzled as to where the water came from. The four of us walked to the edge of the sidewalk noticing the small drain hole empty brown murky liquid onto the side of the street and into a nearby water drain.

Camilia made a sound of disgust, "thought that there were laws against these kind of things. Just dreadful." She looked away from the draining dust fuel waste. It was from the air center no doubt.

"Some people just find it easier to put the unfortunate side waste of dust onto the streets than paying for proper disposal." Silt clarified. Obviously disapproving of the waste as well.

I steered the conversation elsewhere. "Anyone know where we are going first?" I asked.

Beach put a hand up to his chin thoughtfully. "Anyone up for noodles?"

Camilia threw her hands up exasperated, "fucking absolutely." She said then looked a sly gaze at Beach. "well, only as long as your paying."

Beach returned her look with a wink, "only as long as it comes with a kiss." He said in a playful soothing tone. Camilia moved in close to him, pulling on his loosely wrapped scarf around his neck, drawing him closer. Silt and I raised eyebrows and watched most interested. But right before their faces met Camilia spoke softly at Beach with the pity in her eyes of a dog's.

" In that case I think I'll starve handsome." She patted him on the cheek twice then released him looking back at Silt and I.

I made an exaggerated sigh. "Heart breaker" I joked teasingly at her.

She put her hands up innocently, "I try." she said proudly.

I looked to the big man next to me. "Silt find us a cab would you?" I asked politely. He walked off without a word, just an affirming nod.

We waited in silence until Silt tracked down a ride for us. Once deciding that everyone was in the mood for lunch at a nearby outdoor noodle cuisine we quickly made our way. The place was more of a noodle shack than anything. Just four stools outside a shuttered single room kitchen at a counter. But the hot food made up for it. We chatted, joked and laughed our way through our meal. After that we visited luxury shops and looked at new scroll cases and models that were always coming out faster than people could keep up with. The problem with our scrolls was that they were specially outfitted for our work so no public available product was compatible. so we made no purchases. Many hours and shops later we found ourselves at a seedier bar when the sun began to drop and the shadows grow longer. We spent many hours, I do not remember how many hours later but I know that I had a great many more drinks that I had prepared for. By about halfway through the night we had...been kicked out of two or three clubs, gotten into six bar fights, and nearly caused a major car accident. Silt had found himself sometime through the night in a less than friendly tussle against four men all by himself. They had used a chair, bottles and even a small dull knife. But as always my friend, the beast of a man clobbered them all with just his fists Resulting in us being ran out by the club owner. We ended our adventurous night at a small bar where Beach was relentless in trying to win a greasy woman's favor but to no avail. We nearly had to pull the drunk Beach off of her but Silt was no help because he was equally if not more drunk than all of us combined. I'll tell that that man has a resistance to drink like I had never seen in my entire life. But everyone has their limit and Silt has nearly collapsed in a chair a minute ago. After settling Beach down at our table Camilia And I made the decision that it was time to take leave to a nearby hotel. By this time even Camilia and I were in no shape to drive so we hired another taxi who gave us interesting stares but didn't ask any questions, or if he did I don't remember. After some fumbled words and broken drunken half said sentences I eventually signed us in for A room. I was drunk enough that I only booked us one room, not enough beds for all of us. When I unlocked the door the four of us stumbled inside the simple two bed room. Silt slipped off of my shoulder where he had been using it as support and fell to the room floor unconscious, a heavy snoring starting from him. Camilia looked at the big man with a frank look.

"well shit, I guess we just let him sleep there?" She suggested. None of us were in the condition or had the spirit to lift the massive man anywhere so we decided to leave him lying on the floor just barely inside the doorway. Beach kicked Silt in the gut lightly as he lay on the floor.

"You big bear." He said then laughed in a way that only a drunk man could laugh. I laughed lightly at that as well, it was a good comparison. The drinking still had me a bit dizzy and I felt the tug of sleep nip at me. I made for the nearest bed then looked to Camilia and Beach wondering how we were going to arrange ourselves to the two beds.

Beach looked between Camilia and I with a drunk smile. "So are you two gonna...Share." I felt a hot blush hit my face and It stayed for a few seconds. It wasn't like that with her, she didn't think that either. Or did she? I thought to myself. Camilia and I took a secret step away from each other, distancing ourselves. This seemed to amuse Beach quite a bit.

He laughed monstrously. "Oh god you too. I was just kidding." His laugh faded. "But seriously you two are thick as grim when it comes to each other." He made a small snort.

I didn't quite have my wits about me at the time but I could still make a decent comeback. "Thick as you when it comes to women?" I countered teasingly. While Beach and I jested Camilia helped herself the bed nearest to the window overlooking a section of the lit city under the star lit sky. The mood settled and Beach and I settled to the other bed only taking off our jackets and boots before lying on the bed, making sure to keep plenty of room between us. I found myself taking to sleep much faster that I had expected, nearly blacking out as soon as my head hit the pillow. It may have been the drinks or maybe the presence of my trusted friends but that night my nightmares seemed to leave me. But not completely, just fade them to a soft echo. Distant and far away. I slept hard and well, a smile on my face and the comfort of something that you only find when with family or in my case, blood and sweat earned friends. But all being said, it was a pleasant sleep.

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><p><strong>Thank you all for your patience in the release of this chapter. The holidays now over, updates will be more frequent. And now that the RWBY Volume .2 music tracks had been released we can all sleep a bit easier. Hope you enjoyed. SUPPORT ALWAYS WELCOMED!<strong>


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